Formfiller

This is a little confusing. It makes it sound like there will be one particular version of Windows that's Desktop only. Could that really be so? --JorgeA Sounds like it. It would be pretty much a complete reversal of the current "one size fits all strategy". It sounds like metro will be relegated to mobile only, and the desktop would be de-fucked. Just like iOS/Mac OS. It sounds too smart for NuMicrosoft however. Almost unbelievable after the last two years of madness.

The ZDNet B links don't work.

I wonder to what "future" did he go? I haven't seen the car industry talking about trashing all existing automobiles because mini-cars (or SUVs for that matter) were en-vogue for a while. The bread and butter products of Boing and Airbus are several decades old (the 747 is older than most computer companies). The main line-up of pharma companies is even older than that (how ancient is Aspirin again?). Even the space program relies now on the Sojuz workhorse, a space craft originally designed in the 60s by the Soviets. If IT is "backwards" for him because of XP and the start menu, he is destined for some rough awakening.

I guess Neowin will transform soon into "start menu ain't so bad"-mode, we've-never-been-at-war-with-eurasia style. Expect some "Microsoft is listening, the others are not!" articles. Some metrotards will dissent, but not for long.

It's easier on the eyes for sure.

I am skeptical about the Windows 8.2 rumors. The source of all this seems to be this article: http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/windows-8-2-new-changes-coming-0685920 Which doesn't cite any sources whatsoever. I also couldn't find much information about the author of that piece. And even if true, a January release is far too soon for this, mid-2014 would have been more realistic.

It's like NuMicrosoft, PC vendors and some "analysts" are living in some weird Tim Burton/Terry Gilliam fantasy movie: Just simply trying it out would cure them immediately of trying to force these painful input methods on the PC/laptop. But no, billions of dollars need to be wasted first to find out what is obvious within ten seconds of using.

I guess Elop is no longer the golden boy after after the rumors about his plans for the Xbox and Bing. Too bad, I almost started to like him.

.NET is harmless. If MS hid some backdoors, it's surely not in an optional installer. The only problem .NET has is that it prolongs Windows Update, because .NET updates take a while to install (precompilation of assemblies on every update).

With Microsoft clearly able to pull out these statistics at will doesn't it beg a question or two like ... * Number of customers optically tracked by Kinect * Quantity of gamers who said "Xbox, On" and "Xbox, Off" * TV viewing habits of customers now that they have a super-TiVo uber-Nielson big brother * Quantity of customers opting out of data collection * Number of gamers disabling Kinect * ... etc The numbers don't match Sony's at all! The Xbone was released worldwide and sold one million units. The PS4 is only available in the US and Canada so far and sold one million there! The Xbone sold worldwide what the PS4 managed in only two countries! These numbers are actually pretty bad for MS. PS4 release in Europe, Brazil and Australia will be on the 29th November.

"You're right Steve, some changes need to be made", and Ballmer gets killed? Were they referring to the failure of the metro interface? Haven't watched it.

Yeah, who would have thought using mouse and keyboard is far more effective than using solely a 12 inch touchscreen? Oh wait, just about everyone who tried it out! The "dead of the PC" scare is even somewhat harmless, considering how much more severe damage these bastards are causing in other areas with their senseless "analysis". You need a bazillion of diplomas to enter the ranks of these analyst-companies, yet they produce total crap. I wonder whether it's the over-education or the coke parties that's causing it.

More Scroogle stuff: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/cat/Scroogled/categoryID.67575900 There is a huge shitstorm forming: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=cr&ei=uvqNUvi-H-yS0AWKyICwDA#q=%22keep+calm+while+we+steal+your+data%22 Pretty much every article and comment is pointing out at the mad hypocrisy. Microsoft marketers are truly geniuses and experts in understanding human emotion: If they would fight in a war, their surrender-flags would be in red, with a fist printed on it, and their coats of arms would be giant smileys. I must admit, I envy them a bit. They must know some REALLY great stuff to be able to cook up something like that and think it's a great campaign.

I just thought everybody would like to hear that thankfully there are still some adults with integrity around. Speaking about dumbed down: If Doom would have been made today: Just hilarious.

I don' t know what you're talking about. But seriously -- the urge to wreck successful designs and the arrogance of ignoring what their customers are telling them -- this is like a computer virus that's infecting the minds of developers all around the world. And all these developers behave exactly the same after their debacle: Claiming "big success" and citing meaningless numbers. The head developer of the above mentioned game put out a statement after the complete meltdown and anger of their fanbase: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=349496 The game forums all over the internet are even more enraged after this! ("I hope they dissapear soon enough. What a friggin disgrace! I just can't describe the dissapointment i'm feeling... After such a long time you are pushing your fanbase over the cliff to make room for some kids?") It's almost scary how similar the developers behave who have recently f***ed their products up. I am surprised that in this ritual it's apparently mandatory to insult the customers even more after release. Microsoft and Opera followed exactly the same behavior to the letter when they destroyed their flagships.

Another company f***ing it up by dumbing it down: Egosoft. They create the massive-sized "X" space games. They dumbed their latest installment down to attract the masses, with horrible results. Read their forum: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewforum.php?f=127 It reminds me of the destroying Windows blog.. Some rants from there: That's what I call a deja vu! Removing loved features, taking out beloved elements and replacing them with the short lived hip stuff, p***ing off the core users.... all these stories sound always so familiar!

Are they this crazy? http://www.neowin.net/news/rumor-kevin-turner-reportedly-to-be-next-ceo-at-microsoft-followed-by-elop Kevin Turner is the worst of them all. Just wow.

No wonder: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/13/microsoft_new_ie_chief/ Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) has a new chief - the exec who has led the company’s Windows Phone rebirth for four years. IE is getting metrotarded. It's funny that all the people at MS who have a "metro" background drag all the products they touch to a new low. IE 11 is the worst release Internet Explorer release I can think of. Its compatibility problems are staggering. They also have removed the "view this in compatibility mode" button. The function is still there, but ridiculously hidden. It's not because its less standards compliant - it support more HTML 5 stuff than IE10. It seems to be less compatible with "quirky mode" sites than its predecessors (which isn't a good thing, no matter what the fanboys are saying. The vast majority of sites are not 100% HTML standards compliant, ignoring this reality is stupid.)

Funny, MS kills stack ranking right when Yahoo implements it. Maybe they have secretly already chosen a CEO and this was actually his first decision. Ballmer had years to get rid of stack ranking, odd that it happens right around when everybody was reporting that the CEO list was narrowing down.

Looks like Marissa Mayer introduced stack ranking at Yahoo! http://allthingsd.com/20131108/because-marissa-said-so-yahoos-bristle-at-mayers-new-qpr-ranking-system-and-silent-layoffs/ Genius. Wasn't Yahoo mail metrofied as well under her tenure? Is Marissa a metrotard?

About the Xbox: I guess despite not being mandatory now, some games can enforce online-mode. And the Xboxes can be banned from connecting, because every box has a unique serial number. It's not a kill switch as such; the server doesn't accept connections from a banned serial number.

Miserable complainers, always whining about this or that! Now they are moaning about mid-game system reboots. Spoiled babies. The cloud is your friend. Leave Microsoft alone! /SARC For a glimpse into the impenetrable me-only narcissistic mind of a fanboy, consider this comment: "Hint: they're not going to be updated in prime time." which is an ignorant attempt at rationalization ( and with NO sarc tag ) that translates to 'they'll only do these updates during off-peak hours Yep, that magic off-peak hour on planet Earth is what time exactly? Actually the fanboy mindset is not narcissistic at all, it's masochistic. All this stuff doesn't benefit the fanboy in the slightest, but he is willing to take it "for the team". The "team" being in this case an anonymous corporation, to which the boyz have no actual meaningful relationships with (apart from using their products). This makes it even way more pathetic than nationalism, religious extremism and similar extreme devotions to a (group-) identity.

According to this article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-06/microsoft-said-to-include-turner-on-internal-list-for-ceo.html The mysterious last in the list is Kevin Turner! He's an exec at MS and is apparently hated by the employees (comments on mini-msft and others). He is apparently one of the driving forces behind the stack-ranking system there. Worse than Ballmer. What a choice!

CEOs narrowed down: http://windowsitpro.com/paul-thurrotts-wininfo/report-microsoft-ceo-search-narrowed In the original article the backgrounds of these are listed, I haven't quoted that. Anyway, rather lame list. The only interesting choice is Mulally. Tony Bates was the CEO of Skype shortly before Microsoft bought it. He didn't found the company and joined well later, after it was already an established brand (in 2010, - MS buy out was in 2011) Before his Skype stint, he was a Cisco exec and later touristed in Silicon Valley, and was member of the board of Youtube, Lovefilm and so on... pretty generic exec. Satya Nadella is the tech leader of the "cloud" efforts at MS. According to Wikipedia he "led the transformation of the business and technology from client-server software to cloud infrastructure and services." In other words: More of the stuff why MS needed a new CEO in the first place! Do they really think everybody can be forcefully moved to the cloud? Apart from the recent spy scandals and privacy problems, there are some massive infrastructure problems; slow internet connections even in developed countries and myriads of other showstoppers. The Xbone disaster has teached them nothing. Stephen Elop - I don't get the appeal? He was only two years at MS before he joined Nokia. OK, he should be rewarded for trojan-horsing Nokia I guess, but making him CEO? Without Microsoft's help, Nokia would be probably bankrupt. Elop's effort to establish WP as a major player pretty much failed. Why are they so in love with the guy? Besides: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Elop So, he was CIO of a company that filed bankruptcy, and the two times he was CEO, it led to acquisition of these companies short time after?

More C9: http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Windows-Desktop No it won't, because this: is stupid. Although the guy I quoted always seemed to like W8, he was a tad more critical in the past: http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/What-will-the-next-and-BEST-Windows-be-called--Windows-9/2d05f487293e4933b4bda23400ef4551 Interesting - I haven't posted on Channel9 for a while now, and that lack of critical voice really seems to have an effect. When I posted my W8 rants there, they were a bit more critical as a whole (towards MS).